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[quote=Anonymous]Ugh.

Companies didn't want to pay up (save) for pension plans, so wall st came up with 401ks and IRAs by making it sound better to the average joe (you get to choose!).

It led to millions of us leaving pension plans (saving companies/govt tons of money, but they still underfunded pension plans anyway), and wall st got tons of "maintenance fees" for taking care of the 401k/IRAs.  It also led to a huge influx of money for wall st, so they gambled like crazy (when you're judged on financial soundness over lifetimes, you take small risks, versus chasing quarterly rates).

That also led to traditional pension plans taking greater risks to make up for underfunding and to keep up with 401k returns.  (Remember when people wanted to privatize Social Security by investing in Wall St? har har).

The move out of pension plans was one of the symptoms of get rich mindset that blew up spectacularly and we as a society is paying for it.  It's a false choice with appearance of economic freedom to choose 401k plans.

Guaranteeing certain payout for pension plans forced the pension planners to invest for the long term and to shy away from risky investments.  Even then, wall st conned pension plans by slapping triple-As on mortgage securities/etc.

Not sure why I wrote that wall of text...  Anyway, be glad you have a pension fund, and be vigilant that they properly keep it funded.[/quote]

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